Normals

Super Combo

Dragon Ball FighterZ has an autocombo system similar to the one found in Persona 4: Arena. By repeatedly pressing 5L, your character will automatically perform a full sequence of attacks.

5L > 5L > 5L consists of 5L followed by two unique normals (5LL and 5LLL) that function like a medium and heavy normal, respectively. 5LLL causes a launching Smash! on hit (or a wall bounce Smash! in the case of Yamcha and Hit). 5LL and 5LLL will come out even on whiff. Pressing 5L again after 5LLL on hit will automatically perform a Super Dash.

j.L > j.L > j.L will result in a basic j.L > j.M > j.H air combo, but the second j.L will automatically reposition you up and forward to make it easier to connect with the full Super Combo. This is unlike performing j.L > j.M manually, and is useful for repositioning yourself mid-combo. There are instances where a manual j.M may be preferred, so keep this in mind.

If you successfully land the last hit of the grounded Super Combo and continue into the automatic Super Dash and the aerial Super Combo, the final j.L will cause Dynamic! property on hit instead of the usual Smash! property, granting you a Dragon Ball. More information on this is described in the Dragon Balls section.

By doing 4L instead of 5L, you can prevent yourself from performing the Super Combo and will instead do 5L > 5L or j.L > j.L.

Similarly, 5M has its own Super Combo by repeatedly pressing 5M, resulting in the following sequence:

5M > 2M > special > super

Note: Hit's M Super Combo does 5H instead of 2M, as his 5M does not combo into his 2M.

Meanwhile 5H and 2H will both automatically cancel into Super Dash by pressing H again.

Z Combo

Like other Arc System Works titles, Dragon Ball FighterZ has a system for canceling normal attacks to each other. The standard progression is L > M > H > S for both standing, crouching and airborne normals, and you can freely cancel between standing and crouching normals, with some exceptions.

Exceptions include:

5L can only be performed twice per Z Combo, at which point you can no longer perform 2L

2L can only be performed twice per Z Combo, at which point you can no longer perform 5L

6M cannot be canceled into any other normals

2H cannot cancel into S normals

Grounded S normals, if attacks, can cancel into grounded H normals

j.L can only be performed twice per Z Combo

j.M can cancel into j.L once per Z Combo

There are exceptions to these as well, but this is a good general rule when starting out.

Common Traits

While every character has different normals with different ranges, damage, speed, etc, many have similar properties to help players have a base set of tools to work with when picking up new characters.

Overhead 6M

6M is an overhead for all characters, but does not normally lead to any combo. To combo off 6M, players need to either meaty or use it in conjunction with assists or with Sparking!

Sweep 2M

2M is a low hitting attack that knocks down. The floaty nature of the knockdown makes it easy to combo into an air hit 5M, 5H or 2H.

Wall Bounce 5H

Everyone has a wall bounce in 5H. If you haven't used an attack with Smash! property yet, you can cancel 5H into Super Dash and extend your combo.

Anti-Air 2H

Everyone has an anti-air attack in 2H. This attack has invulnerability to airborne strikes. If you haven't used an attack with Smash! property yet, you can cancel 2H into Super Dash and extend your combo.

Air Knockdown j.H

Most characters' j.H will knock the opponent to the ground, giving you time to position yourself to attack the opponent as they recover with okizeme. If you've used an attack with launching Smash! property, j.Hs that knockdown will also Smash! and cause a ground slide.

Air Combo Extender j.2H

Most characters's j.2H will launch the opponent into the air. If you haven't used an attack with Smash! property yet and assuming you haven't used a Super Dash before jumping, you can cancel j.2H into Super Dash and extend your combo. Most characters can also combo off their j.2H if they still have their double jump.

Dragon Rush

Useful to stop blocking opponents

Press L+M to perform a Dragon Rush. Dragon Rush is a short-range unblockable attack that has some restrictions in place:

Ground Dragon Rush cannot hit airborne opponents or opponents who are in jump startup. For example, if you perform a a ground recovery and hold up, you will be completely invulnerable to ground Dragon Rush throughout.

It is possible to combo into either version, however, doing so prevents you from performing the standard launcher and the opponent will be knocked down instead. Dragon Rush can only connect once per combo.

After hitting with a Dragon Rush, press A1 or A2 to force the opponent to switch characters! This is a very powerful tool to force a low life character to enter the ring and stop an opponent's character from regaining health. Opponents who enter this way are also susceptible to incoming mixups since they are forced to jump into the stage.

Throws

Just like Dragon Rush, throws such as Cell's Telekinesis Crush, Android 18's Back Grab, Trunks' Heat Dome Attack and Android 16's Dynamite Driver follow the same restrictions in regards to when they can and cannot connect.

Super Dash

Deflect small ki blasts and approach the opponent

Press H+S to perform a Super Dash. Super Dash is a very useful tool that does two things: quickly approach the opponent and extend combos.

Super Dash automatically deflects small ki blasts like everyone's 5S, as well as some specials like Piccolo's Homing Energy Blast and Beerus's Cataclysmic Orbs.

Combo Extender

After successfully connecting with an attack with Smash! property, pursue with Super Dash for a follow-up combo. Super Dash will also combo off certain attacks with large amounts of untechable time, such as Super Saiyan Goku's 2S, Teen Gohan's j.2S and Krillin's j.2S.

Z Assist

I need backup/help extending my combo

Press A1 or A2 to summon one of your teammates to do an attack. Each character has a preset attack as their Z Assist and each one has a cooldown timer.

When calling a Z Assist, there is a small amount of time where they are vulnerable before they start performing a move (2F). This is true even for invincible assist attacks like Teen Gohan's Super Dragon Flight - the attacks has a bit of additional vulnerable startup even though the attack normally is invincible on startup.

You can call Z Assist in the middle of your own attacks, making them useful for continuing offense or extending combos.

You can not call Z Assist when:

Getting hit/blocking

When the Z Assist is on cooldown/lockout

During your Super Attacks - Ultimate Z Change will be performed instead

Special Move

Each character has a variety of special moves done by performing + a button or + a button
These moves usually have unique properties like traveling fullscreen, invincibility, or deals lots of damage.

Powered-Up Special Move

When a special move has L/M/H variants, the H version costs 1 Ki Gauge and is typically a better version of the special. They usually allow for extended combos or offer other unique utility that the other versions of this special do not have. For example, the H version of Vegeta's Super Dash Kick launches the opponent high into the air, allowing for follow-ups afterwards. As for utility, the H version of Tien's Volleyball Fist is a command throw, unlike the L and M versions, which are strikes.

Super Attack

Super Attacks are flashy attacks that cost 1 Ki Gauge and usually do lots of damage or have unique properties.

Ultimate Z Change

Press A1/A2 in the middle of your own Super Attack to cancel into your teammate's Super Attacks. This is similar to the Delayed Hyper Combo mechanic found in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Press A1 to cancel into your first teammate's preset Super Attack and A2 to cancel into your second teammate's preset Super Attack. Similarly, you can also press +A1 to cancel into your first teammate's preset Meteor Attack and +A2 to cancel into your second teammate's preset Meteor Attack.

Typically, a character's preset Super Attacks are their +L+M Super Attack and their +L+M Meteor Attack. A noted exception to this rule is Vegeta (SSGSS), who performs Galick Gun (+H+S) as his preset Super Attack instead.

It is also possible to cancel into your teammate's Super Attack without performing one of your own! Cancel a successful hit into +A1/A2 or +A1/A2 to bring a teammate in to perform their preset Super Attack and Meteor Attack, respectively.

Thus Ultimate Z Change is used for two purposes: either to tack on extra damage in a combo or to safely tag in a character since supers are generally safer than manually tagging out at neutral.

Vanish can be canceled into from most attacks, and when used in the middle of combo, will cause a severe wall bounce that bounces from anywhere on the screen, giving you time to land another attack. This wall bounce works once per combo regardless of any moves with Smash! property previously connecting, but comboing off a Z Assist, Z Change, Guard Cancel Change or an opponent already in a wall bounce directly into Vanish will not grant a wall bounce. Also, Vanish must be canceled into from a connecting hit in order to wall bounce, as canceling a whiffed attack will not produce a wall bounce even if it hits before Vanish does. An exception to this is during repeated ki blasts. You will get the wall bounce even on a ki blast that has yet to hit so long as least one of the ki blasts connected beforehand, as they are all considered part of the same move.

Punish Tool

When used from a neutral state, the opponent will be blown away, allowing you to punish slow attacks, though not for a lot of damage.

However during Sparking!, hold the buttons to teleport behind the opponent without attacking! You can then follow-up with your own combo and punish them big time!

Escape Tool

Since Vanish teleports you behind the opponent, this will allow you to escape certain mixups the opponent attempts to perform on you. The downside is that there needs to be a gap in the opponent's blockstring big enough to execute a Vanish Attack and some setups account for this option.

Sparking!

Your portrait will begin flashing when you have 120F of Sparking! left

Press L+M+H+S to perform a Sparking Blast and enter Sparking! state. Sparking! is a very powerful state that grants your team a multitude of power-ups:

Damage increases by 20%

Ki gain increases by 100%

Point character blue health regenerates at a very fast rate

All normals become jump cancelable on hit/block

All air normals become air dash cancelable on hit/block

6M can be special canceled on hit/block

Super Dash has reduced pushback and can cancel into attacks immediately on block